Evans in a huff as Stags are kept out
STEVE Evans was left fuming after the linesman’s flag denied his Mansfield team all three points at Cambridge.
A game of few chances ended goalless but Stags boss Evans felt Danny Rose’s closerange effort in the second half was wrongly ruled out by referee Trevor Kettle and his linesman for offside.
“For 25-30 minutes, in the second half we’ve laid siege to their goal, but if anything’s let us down it’s the final ball into the box,” said Evans.
“What’s also let us down is the linesman making an incorrect call on the offside goal. We’ve looked at the video and Danny is clearly onside but those are the decisions we don’t seem to be getting this season.
“We’re disappointed it came down to that because other than one Conrad Logan save from (Uche) Ikpeazu, they haven’t been in it at all.”
Mansfield have now lost just one of their last 20 games but had to withstand some pressure from the home side early on, with striker Billy Waters, who joined Cambridge on loan from Northampton this week, lively in attack.
Waters saw a shot deflected wide and was involved in the move which put Jake Carroll in the clear, only for the U’s left-back to fire over.
Early in the second half, Conrad Logan was called into action to foil a low effort from Uche Ikpeazu after a decent cross from Waters.
But after that, Mansfield took control, with Alex MacDonald seeing a free kick turned over by David Forde before Rose tucked away a Jacob Mellis pass, but then saw his celebrations cut short by the linesman’s raised flag for offside.
Cambridge are now unbeaten in five and boss Shaun Derry, who handed league debuts to teenage centre-back Harry Darling and Norwich loanee Adam Phillips, as well as Waters, took real pride in his side’s display in securing a draw.
“There were two good teams out there and I thought the way we approached the game gave us a taste of what’s to come from this squad,” said Derry.
“We defended exceptionally in the second half because they caused us a lot of problems but with three people making their debuts for the football club, I was really pleased with the display.
“At this stage, we’re looking strong in terms of the attacking options available to us. We can play different ways now and that’s something which fills me with confidence for the rest of the season.”